Stranded Kashmiri students ask for PM’s help

Hundreds of Kashmiri students stranded across the country at airports or paying guest accommodations, have made an emotional appeal to the Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, urging him to make arrangements for their safe return to their homes, reported the Greater Kashmir.

The publication reported that it received various phone calls and emails from distressed students who said that would “either starve to death or suffer mental agony” if they’re not able to reach home.

A girl student in Aligarh said, “There are only three of us here in the entire building. We don’t have enough rations. The tiffin service has also been closed for the past two days. The guy who used to deliver potable water has also stopped coming here. At least let us die with our parents back home.”

The students said they were also ready to shift to a quarantine home in Jammu and Kashmir in the hope of reuniting with their parents after 10 to 15 days.

In an email to the publication, a scholar said, “We are two students from Kashmir stranded at Chennai airport. We had visited the National Atmospheric Research Laboratory for training for our PhD related work. Our flight was scheduled in the morning yesterday to Srinagar. Unfortunately it got cancelled and we have no place to go here.”

Another email read, “Nobody is listening to us, Please help us. We cannot even go back to our institute as they are not allowing us,” he said. The scholars demanded they should be evacuated to Valley saying they will follow all procedures of quarantine. “Please evacuate us somehow from here otherwise we may starve to death. My mother (a widow) is waiting for me.”

Two boys, Mir Amaan Ullah and Nasir Mehran who were stuck at Lakhanpur sub district hospital after returning from Bangladesh said, “We have been properly tested and have no symptoms of Covid-19, but the authorities don’t allow us to travel to Srinagar.”

Scores of such emails were received by the publication which showed the plight of stranded students’ places like Delhi and Bangalore. They rued that the government did not give them time to reschedule their flights.

In Bengaluru, Kahmiri stranded students studying at Atria Institute of Technology told KNT over phone that they are immensely suffering due to 21 days lockdown and are not getting food and other necessities. “Please evacuate us or at least provide required facilities to us. We are starving here,” Shahid Ahmed, a student said over phone.

Internationally, Kashmiri students stranded at Bangladesh and Kyrgyzstan have also appealed to the Indian administration to rescue them and get back home.

Students stranded in Bangladesh told Greater Kashmir, “We were asked to vacate hostels by the college administration in Bangladesh. But, we were not allowed to enter the Indian side and we are stuck at the border for the past many hours. We are literally on the road, help us, save us, we are on the verge of death.”

The students in Kyrgyzstan also suffered a similar fate. Most have been asked to leave hostels and are putting up in private accommodation, but they’re now running out of money to survive. A student of the Medical University at Osh told The Kashmir Monitor, “We want to return home. We want to see our parents again. There are 44 confirmed cases in Kyrgyzstan and the majority of them are from Osh and Jalalabad where we are staying. We request the Indian government kindly rescue us from this place as soon as possible.”

However, the administration has shown utmost disregard in this matter. Divisional Commissioner Kashmir, Pandurang Kondbarao Pole expressed helplessness, saying that all the borders were sealed in view of Coronavirus outbreak. “It is very difficult for the students to return now. They should contact Principal resident commissioner in New Delhi to register their grievance,” he said.

Advisor to J&K Lieutenant Governor, Baseer Khan, who is also over-all in-charge of coronavirus control efforts for Kashmir division, said they are reviewing the situation. “We will take a decision accordingly after taking a review of the situation,” he said.

Former CM of J&K, Omar Abdullah called on authorities to help stranded students across the border and in the country saying that would in fact achieve the government’s goal of putting a stop to unwanted movement of people in the country.

Not only this, he lambasted the government for going back and forth on its decision of restoring 4G services which have been suspended there since August 5 last year. The suspension of the internet has come to be the single largest hindrance in the access to healthcare and medical research, especially at this time of social distancing.

Doctors there are unable to even download guidelines for intensive care in hospitals amid the Covid-19 outbreak. Even students and professionals who are being forced to study and work from home, find it impossible to do so due to the 2G internet speed.

Earlier, an order from the Ministry of Home Affairs made the rounds saying that 4G services would be restored beginning March 25. However, the Home ministry later issued a statement that the order was fake and no such instructions had been given out.

To this, Omar Abdullah said –
 

In Jammu and Kashmir, the number of confirmed Covid-19 cases climbed to 11 and the UT saw its first death after a 65-year-old man passed away in Srinagar.

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